Discover the true nature of the Sarlacc and how, with a little fatherly help, Boba escaped...

Overpowering the air filters of his Mandalorian helmet, the putrid stench of the Sarlacc threatened to make Boba vomit. So this is how I'm going to die, he thought. It seemed such a demeaning fate; to be killed by some mindless monster. He remembered one of his father's teachings: "Destiny is the ultimate bounty hunter, my son. And one day he finds us all."

Not today, decided Boba.

The moist flesh of the Sarlacc enfolded him in darkness. He sub-vocalised a command and the helmet viewing system switched to infra-red. From the hellish images, he judged that he was somewhere just above the upper digestion system. The creature had attached tendrils to him, which despite his struggles, were slowly but inevitably pulling him further down to where the stomach acids would begin the work of turning him into slime. If only my jet-pack were working, he thought, I could just rocket out of here. Damn Solo.

Still, he thought, I have a small arsenal built into this suit. Let's see? The sensors inside Boba's helmet picked up his thoughts and relayed his instructions in a question of nano-seconds. Rocket darts shot out of his knee pads and plunged into the flesh of the Sarlacc. The explosion rocked the insides of the beast but still the tendrils continued their inexorable pull.

Okay, that didn't work. What else have I got? Oh yeah? A flame lashed out of Fett's gauntlet. But within seconds gastric juices sputtered forth from the stomach lining, extinguishing the fire. Fett tried again with similar results. Now he was starting to get worried.

And then he saw something that chilled him to the bone.

Jabba had often taunted execution victims by saying the Sarlacc would take a thousand years to fully digest those unfortunate enough to fall into its gaping maw. Fett had never believed it. Until now. Below him, enmeshed in the stomach lining of the Sarlacc, were dozens of skeletons. Except that they weren't totally dead. The heat of what was left of their bodies registered on his infra-red. More disturbingly, he could hear their cries.

"Kill us," they groaned in unison.

Despite his predicament, Boba found himself wondering how they could still be conscious. Most of their bodies had been digested; all that remained were scraps of flesh clinging to their bones. Yet their eyes... They still had eyes.

The tendrils tightened their grip and pulled Fett further down until he was almost level with the victims. Their arms reached out to touch his suit.

"Kill us, please, kill us," they begged.

Boba fought against the panic rising within him. There was something not right about all this. The Sarlacc's victims were still able to talk. Obviously they still had lungs. Nearly everything had been digested except their sensory organs, their respiratory system and presumably their brains. But what did it expect them to do? Talk to each other while it ate them? And why leave the eyes?

In a flash, Boba realised that the Sarlacc wanted them to be conscious, needed them to be aware of what was happening. But time was running out; stomach acids sizzled as they began to chew into his boots.

Boba reached into his memory, searching for something his father had once said. "You have to forget about your body son," Jango had told him at the end of one particularly hard day of training. "You see my scars? The people who gave them to me thought they were hurting me. They didn't realise that my body is not me. It's just something I use to experience the world around me. But it's no more me than my suit, or my ship. The body is a mask for the true self. The mask can be damaged but no one can hurt your true self."

Boba began to meditate, drawing himself inwards. He forgot about where he was, about the fate that awaited him. He retreated inside his mind, picturing the icy calm of the corridors in his childhood Kamino home. The effect was instantaneous. The tendrils relaxed, then there was a shift from down below. The next thing he knew, Boba was shot out of the Sarlacc by an enormous exhalation of gas.

He lay there for a few seconds on the ground before pulling himself to his feet. Without looking back he climbed out of the pit. Paying no heed to the smouldering remains of Jabba's sail barge, he stalked over to the corpse of one of the fallen Gamorrean guards and searched the body until he found what he was looking for. He returned to the edge of the Sarlacc pit.

The monster didn't live on the bodies of its victims, Boba had realised. It lived on their emotions, their fear and panic. That was why it kept them conscious, why it let them have eyes to see what was being done to them, and lungs to scream their terror. The Sarlacc was a psychic vampire. And it was only when Boba had remembered his father's torture-resistance training and cleared his mind of all fears that he was no use to the creature and it had spat him out.

Well, not quite spat, Boba remembered. He would have to change it in his log so it better reflected his image?

He activated the guard's pulse grenade and lobbed it into the mouth of the Sarlacc. When it came, the explosion was louder than he had expected, and had he been imagining it or had he heard ghostly voices crying their gratitude? The Sarlacc's many victims were at least free of the torture. But despite the smoke emanating from the maw of the creature, Boba could tell it was far from dead. The mouth still moved and the tendrils whipped angrily around.

He paused. Should he return with Slave 1 and finish off the Sarlacc? It had come near to ending his career and his life. But if he destroyed the creature then people would probably realise who had done it. And there was an advantage to be had in certain people believing Boba Fett to be dead...

So he returned to survey what was left of Jabba's sail barge. Impressive. Maybe that kid really was a Jedi after all. If so then Boba had a personal score to settle with him. In fact, he looked forward to meeting Solo and all of his friends; the vengeful Hutts would have put a considerable price on all of their heads.

Boba looked down at himself. His suit had been damaged and he was covered in the Sarlacc's slime. As Slave 1 responded to his signal and swooped in low over the Dune Sea, Boba remembered another of his father's favourite sayings: "Bath-time, son." It was time to breathe the clean air of home.

I really liked this piece. Boba Fett is a very hard mind frame to capture, and you did a great job doing it! I really appreciate works like these, works that explain scenes that fans know little of. Nice work, and a quality story. Certainly worth of the TF.N archives!

Excellent story, it read like a Lucas version. The story created a visual picture in my mind that allowed me to get into the pit of the sarlacc with Boba Fett. It stayed true to the Fett character both Jango & Boab. When is the next chapter...where he searches out the Jedi?

I did not enjoy this piece... The only bright spot was that of Boba thinking about Jango, and that was added for the sake of the new movies..come on, give us something good and original, not someone else' work.

This was fun! The first fanfic I read completely. Short, but sweet and to the point. Don't know if it was cus of the film but with an exeption of the latter half inside the Sarlaac it was very easy and fun to visualize. Good use of the "thousand years" note to form a theory. Loved it.

I really enjoyed this piece. It left a very visual image of the sarlaac's insides, and it also gave a great ending to what was a originally less than perfect. Also made a good save on the whole "thousand year" thing.

LOved it but i kind a miss the ending with Dengar.... But in a another way. If I read this before the Offical I would think the Dangar part would be dumb.And that you used storryes from his childhood showed that he is not a thing but a human after all was a good twist man. BUT Jango is coller then Boba.

I would just like to respond to the accusation of ripping off other writers.

Before I wrote this I hadn't read any EU stuff except some of the Dark Empire comics and the first of the Thrawn trilogy.

One of the betas kindly gave me a copy of "A Barve Like That" which I read and enjoyed. However, I think there are many differences between that story and my version. (Haven't read the Mandalorian Armour so I can't comment on that piece of fiction.)

I realise that "Boba escaping from the Sarlacc" is not an original thought, but I like to think that my story had an original take on the idea.

I welcome all comments and opinions on the story, but I don't respond well to accusations of stealing other people's work.

On a lighter note, I would also like to thank the artist (whoever he/she is) for doing such a splendid job on the cover.

I have been wondering about the intestines of the Sarlacc for quite a while. I liked your story quite a lot, even though it doesn't actually fit into what happens officially.

What I missed was more communication with the Sarlacc and victims other then Fett. You nailed Boba Fett though, and his throwing a granade in the Sarlacc's maw for the mercy of the other victims is touching and moving.

Rido, thanks for the comments on the cover, and your welcome I had a great time designing it. But it was your story that inspired the cover. I liked the way you brought Jango's lessons into play. And the way you explained being digested over a thousand years. Eventhough in the Triolgy they leave Boba's fate up in the air.. you know he was just to good to let the sarlaac get the best of him.Great Job

Not to beat a dead horse, but this story has very little to add to the situation. It is not bad, don't misunderstand, I just think you could read the bounty hunter wars and re-form it around that or change it completely to make it a true a.u. The intent was to illustrate Boba's thoughts inside the sarlacc pit, and although your story ties in Jengo to that situation, is doesn't illuminate any more than Bounty Hunter Wars already did. BHW also illustrated the 1000 years digestion and describes how the sarlacc and others of its kind got to Tattione and spread throughout the universe. Again, applause on the effort, but either go with a full a.u. or build on the story. I am in fact most interested with Boba after the Bounty Hunter Wars, he just gets left out for the most part. He should of been a reluctant leader rebuilding the mandalorians and conquering the galaxy in some fashion .Now thats some stuff that needs to be written=)(sorry it is so blunt, but more power to you! Looking forward to other stories=)

I like the subject and depiction of Boba. Remembering all of his dad's sayings reminds you that he is a clone but also shows that he isn't mindless. His quick-thinkning and suit capabilities were also shown very well and it was cool way for him to get out. I also like the way he showed some emotion, while he never shows any in the movies or books, it was cool to get inside his head.

O.K... not the best fanfic I ever read. Good ideas, but they should have been more elaborate and added more detail to the fanfic. Too short, too sweet. If ideas were built upon a whole lot more, it would have added more to the plot. The only bright spot to the story was Boba recalling his father's advice to get him out of the sarlacc. Not bad ideas, but the story could have been a lot better.

I wanted to respond to one of your earlier comments about your story, rido jod. Don't worry, you don't sound like a rambling madman. I would be annoied also. I wanted to compliment you on a great story! I realize that you said you hadn't read much expanded universe when you thought of the idea. Though you didn't add some of the facts about Boba's escape from the published version, you did an awsome job of capturing his thoughts. The way you wrote it, it perfectly matches the young Boba Fett series. If you haven't read it,I reccomend it! Keep up the good work!

well it was an interesting piece but if you read the three book series of the Bounty Hunter Warsesspecially book 1 The Mandalorian Armor, in the beginning the book shows that Dengar finds Boba Fett lying on the dune sea near death only recognizable by his T-shaped visor of his helmet. I strongly reccommend any Boba Fett fan to read that series it takes place during the events of Return of the Jedi, and explains his rivalry with fellow bounty hunters like Bossk and Zuckuss Book 1 is titled The Mandalorian Armor, Book 2 is titled Slave Ship, and Book 3 is titled Hard Merchandise.

An interesting take on Boba's escape from the Sarlacc. I felt you kept in the character of Boba and you showed what he would have been going through inside the belly of that thing. I also enjoyed the fact that you included a plot for revenge on Solo and his pals, nice ending touch, this is a solid short story.

I enjoyed reading this story so much! It was just the right length for the scene and engaged the reader right off the bat. Clever use of the character background for the escape, and you stayed true to the Boba Fett in the movies, something which I was worried about when I first starting reading this. Great job!